eligius1427's blog

Hi all, just got some fantastic news. I just won my first juried Call to Artists for a public art project. I'm so excited. The sculpture is called Ascension and is for a public rose garden in the Dundee Memorial Park in Omaha, NE. The petals are 12ga stainless steel hollow forms with an electropolished finish. I posted the presentation pages I submitted and would love to hear everyones take on them. I'm still not exactly sure how to write a "Letter of Interest" so any insight into that would be greatly appreciated as well.

Hi all, I'm coming to the finishing part of a rail that I'm currently working on and would like some input on cleaning the scale off. The rail is getting a beeswax, linseed oil finish over forgework. Does anybody have a preference between wire brushing the scale off versus having the piece sandblasted. I'm a little bit behind on this project due to my chair refinishing fiasco and the sandblasting would obviously save me some time. I'm assuming the finish coloring would be much more uniform over the sandblasting and more varied with the burnishing, correct? Would it look less "handmade" with the sandblasting? I don't want to sacrifice the final look just to save a few days.

I took a job to refinish a steel chair made by another artist out of railroad components. The steel had been ground with a swirl finish and clear coated with a clear powder coat. The chair was used outside and over the years had started rusting of course. The client contacted me to have it stripped, remove the rust and put the swirl finish back on, and have it clear coated with powder coat.

Here's another set of picts i took recently. Finished the job last November, but they didn't get the permits to put it up until about a month ago. Not a very complicated piece, but i do think it turned out pretty sharp. The owner of the building loves airplane components thus the name and the look. The back is aluminum, and the letters are unfinished mild steel with stainless steel spacers separating them.

Hi all, hasn't been a terribly exciting summer for me so far, but just installed my first custom made swing set for my niece and nephew. The colors were picked by them, and the wood swing set seats were carved and wood burned by my folks. The kids names are Riely and Kellen, thus the R and K (and i know, i need to buy new boots).

Hey all, does anyone know how difficult it is to rebuild a little giant 25# or 50# powerhammer? I found a few that might be a good price, but I'm not sure whats involved with the rebuild, can a weld shop do it or does it need a machine shop?

Hi all, I'm going to be trying my first wax finish in a couple of weeks and was wondering what everyone thought was the best wax/formula to use. Gerald used a mix of butcher brand bowling alley wax, linseed oil, thinner and jap drier, and I found a premixed(?) wax from Sculpt Nouveau that is "specially formulated" with additives to help protect the metalwork(I found this on www.sculpt.com)

Just wanted say thanks Enrique for the random image function at the bottom right that you installed with the other changes. I can't tell you how many times I've gone off on some investigative tangent because some cool looking image was peeking out while I was reading a thread. Now that i think about it, considering all of the shop time I've spent looking at these images instead of fabricating maybe I should rethink this thank you. :) Great addition, it rally keeps things fresh.

Hi all, been looking for thrust or full complement roller bearings for my wind vane direction arrow for two days now, but have only found plain steel as an option for the most part. I found one company that will make one out of stainless (for $1100 ouch) and another that I'm waiting to hear back from(kaydon), but not much luck other wise. I've checked mcmaster, msc, and google. It has to fit around a 2" OD tube and will be exposed to the elements. Should I be worried about rusting? If i build a shell around it will that protect if from rusting? Can I or should I take one apart and have it painted? I've found bearings in ceramic, bronze, brass, or stainless but none of them are big enough. Ideally a stainless steel needle thrust bearing is what I want. Any suggestions.

Hi all, I coming to the end of a giant windvane project and would like some input about the finish. The client chose the look of a blued steel finish with an orange rust patina randomly placed throughout and a clear top coat. My concern is that this vane goes on top of a house out in the country and is surrounded by fields which for at least 4 months out of the year could have a sandblasting effect on the vane. I am also worried that the rusting patina won't fully stop rusting. I have been considering having the vane powdercoated or professionally painted black, or blueblack, and then use guilders paste to give the patina effect. I would then clear coat the whole thing for extra protection. I can't change the materials(mild steel) and it goes on a giant house(thus the size to keep in scale). I think the closest one could get and still see it, without getting on the roof, would be 90-120 feet. Since it's going to be hard to see any small details I'm beginning to lean more towards a faux finish with more protection than the real deal. What do you think?